Dave_Schuldt Posted December 19, 2004 Posted December 19, 2004 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4225769 Quote
Dru Posted December 19, 2004 Posted December 19, 2004 Nope. Sci Am Dec 2004 Insights: Geographer of the Male Genome; December 2004; by Gary Stix; 2 page(s) An English literature student called up David C. Page a few years ago and told him she was thinking of doing a thesis that would rebut feminist criticism and bring back a measure of respectability to him and his work. "I didn't know I was in need of rehabilitation," Page remarks one late September afternoon in his fourth-floor corner office at the Whitehead Institute on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus. He retells the incident while resting his "Save the Males" coffee cup on a circular conference table. Ever since he picked up and inspected a random piece of DNA in 1979 as a young researcher and later learned that the glob contained a piece of the Y chromosome, Page has devoted much of his working life to the study of the genetic package that confers maleness. The very idea of investigating the Y chromosome offends those feminists who believe that it serves as nothing more than a subterfuge to promulgate an inherent male bias in biology. And, in Page's view, some reputable scientists have even pandered to these sentiments by writing books and papers that predict the extinction of men--or the Y's disappearance. Quote
catbirdseat Posted December 19, 2004 Posted December 19, 2004 The idea that the Y-chromosome would disappear is preposterous. As was mentioned in the article, the Y has ways of correcting errors or replacing lost information. The use of palindromic sequences is one. There may be other mechanisms as yet undiscovered. Quote
Dru Posted December 19, 2004 Posted December 19, 2004 In reptiles and birds it works the other way. Instead of Xs and Ys they have Ws and Zs and if you get two Ws you a male and a WZ is a female. Or something. I read that somewhere and I have no source. But I wonder how it was that mammals evolved to the reverse system? Quote
catbirdseat Posted December 19, 2004 Posted December 19, 2004 Did you see the other article about making sperm, no men necessary? Quote
Dru Posted December 19, 2004 Posted December 19, 2004 So that means there is hope for you after all? Quote
catbirdseat Posted December 20, 2004 Posted December 20, 2004 Dru, my two offspring are soon to leave the house. I am in no hurry to sire any more, thank you. Quote
Dru Posted December 20, 2004 Posted December 20, 2004 I figured you might need to stick the pages of your guidebook or somethin together Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.